After the second day of dressage Britain’s eventing team hold the silver medal position at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. With a total of 114.3 penalties, Germany hold a commanding 14 penalty lead over Britain who are on 128.5 with Sweden just behind on 131.2.
Today it was British individual rider Piggy French who had the early bird slot. Riding Wally French and Michael Underwood’s Jakata, Piggy rode a fantastic test considering the combination has never been in such a huge stadium. Despite a wrong strike off in the walk to canter transition, they scored 45.8. After her dressage test Piggy commented; “I’m thrilled – I couldn’t have asked for more from him. It’s the first time either of us has done a test on such a big occasion in an arena like that. I’ve had to pinch myself, slap myself and say get on with it! We’ve only been together for a season and each time we compete, we learn a bit more about each other and we’re still learning! It was overwhelming to come out of the arena to such great support with the British flags flying. He’s been a bit “hot” when we’ve done arena familiarization but was contained today. We just had a small mistake when he struck off on the wrong leg in canter.”
Next to go was our third team rider, Kristina Cook riding Nicholas & Valda Embiricos and Sarah Pelham’s Miners Frolic, who, on paper, was our best chance of going sub-40. The combination are looking for their third consecutive Championship medal have won team and individual Bronze at the Olympics in 2008 and team and individual Gold at the last year’s European Championships. I t was great test with the only error coming in the last halt for a score of 40.3. Tina said; “Really, really pleased. I made a mess of the last halt and I really wanted to break into the 30’s but never mind. He’s grown up a lot since Hong Kong and it’s a real Olympic atmosphere here. He can be quite spooky but today he stayed relaxed. It was a bit mean of them to put me so early at my age but there was still an atmosphere in the stadium. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often so you have to soak up every moment.”
When asked about the cross country course, Tina commented; “There are plenty of questions which could cause trouble if you misjudge anything – we’ll need to be at the top of our game! Going third, I know my role and I’ll have to be sure of all the options available as my performance is vital for the team. Individually, to win gold would be amazing but you need a huge amount of luck and there’s huge pressure from a number of riders who think they’re going to win gold.”
Our final a crucial team rider was Mary King with Mr & Mrs E Davies and Janette Chinn’s Imperial Cavalier. The horse was looking quite fresh and Mary, a member of the last British team to win gold at the World Championship in 1994, used all her experience to coax a calm and accurate test from him to score 46.2. Mary had the following to say about her test; “I know he could have done better but he could have been a lot worse! He’s been over the top since he arrived – I think he reckons he owns America! His mind was on everything else, not what I was asking and you can only do what you can do. This is only the first phase with the most important two to come. The course is beautifully presented, big and demanding – the horses will find it tiring but I’ve been building fitness in the Devon hills at home! The results will definitely change tomorrow.”
The team standings are: 1. Germany 114.3 2. Great Britain 128.5 3. Sweden 131.2 4. Australia 131.8 5. Italy 135.9
Germany’s Michael Jung holds the lead individually on 33.0 with La Biosthetique Sam FBW. British contingent placings: 8th Kristina Cook Miners Frolic 40.3 12th William Fox-Pitt Cool Mountain 42.0 21st Pippa Funnell Redesigned 45.5 24th Piggy French Jakata 45.8 26th Mary King Imperial Cavalier 46.2 42nd Nicola Wilson Opposition Buzz 51.2
